ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 754 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 1998 The Colorado Union Catalog Project Expanding the Ohio-LINK and ORBIS concepts by A n th o n y J. Dedrick T h e Colorado Alliance o f Research Librar­ies (Alliance), in p a rtn e rsh ip w ith 16 C olorado an d W yoming libraries, has em ­ barked o n an ambitious and innovative union catalog project (Prospector). This project, w hile p ro v id in g sim ilar fu n ctio n ality an d benefits as Ohio-LINK an d ORBIS, will d o so in a m uch m ore diverse institutional an d system environm ent. Background The current project has an interesting and so m e w h at co n v o lu te d b a c k g ro u n d going back to 1974 w h en the Alliance w as formed, primarily to investigate general resource shar­ ing. T he Alliance w as incorporated in 1978 as a not-for-profit corporation an d several years later b eg an developm ent o f an inte­ g rated library system (ILS) k n o w n as the “CARL System.” In 1988, CARL Systems, Inc., a for-profit subsidiary w as formed; an d by 1993, m ost of the larger libraries in the state, along w ith the state community colleges, w ere running CARL systems. Although these libraries w ere using a com m on ILS w ith g o o d connectivity b e­ tw een sites, a true union catalog w as lacking. T he tw o largest academic libraries in the state, the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Colo­ rado State University m igrated to the Innova­ tive Interfaces, Inc. (Ill), system in 1994. Over the next four years, several additional aca­ dem ic libraries and a major public library also m ade the transition to III. Thus the Alliance becam e a multi-platform organization supporting b o th CARL an d III m em ber libraries. The first attem pt by the Alliance to develop a u n io n catalog b eg an in 1996 a n d involved the D enver Public Library, th e Auraria Library, an d th e University o f N orthern Colorado (UNC) Libraries. Common u n io n catalog policies w ere d ev elo p ed and the project w as to b e b ased o n the CARL sys­ tems, w hich all three m em bers w ere currently using. Not long after th a t initial attem pt, Auraria, UNC, an d several other Alliance li­ braries d ec id e d to m igrate to III a n d the project w as discontinued. The co n cep t w as th en resurrected w h en grant funds from the state b ecam e available an d the participating libraries w h o h ad sw itched to III com pleted their transitions to th e n ew systems. Need and purpose The value an d n ee d for u n io n catalogs, esp e­ cially those w ith the capability o f patron-ini- tiated borrow ing, are fairly obvious. While most o f the academ ic an d public libraries in Colorado have III o r CARL systems, patrons must still search multiple sites an d rely on interlibrary loan to obtain th e actual m ateri­ als. This is particularly difficult in a large state such as Colorado w here the majority o f li­ brary resources are concentrated in a small geographic area b o u n d ed by D enver, Boul­ der, an d Ft. Collins. In addition, th e rapid expansion o f distance education programs by virtually all o f th e colleges an d universities in A b o u t th e a u th o r A n th o n y J. Dedrick is assistant d ire c to r fo r access services a t A u ra ria Library an d ch a ir o f th e Prospector C irculation! Document Delivery Task Force, e-m ail:adedrick@carbon.cudenver.edu mailto:adedrick@carbon.cudenver.edu C&RL N ew s ■ N o vem b er 1998 / 755 the state has created a strong d em an d for li­ brary materials that often cannot b e m et sat­ isfactorily at the local level. Development and m anagement Currently, Ohio-LINK (O hio) and Orbis (O r­ egon) are limited to academic libraries w ithin their respective states and use a com m on plat­ form— III. Prospector, o n the other hand, will b e a m u lti-s ta te , m u ltity p e lib rary , a n d multitype ILS u n io n catalog. D eveloping a u n io n catalog w ith patron- initiated b orrow ­ ing an d materials delivery w ithin such a di­ verse environm ent will b e a unique project. It has som e potentially major implications nationw ide w h e n o n e considers th e large n u m b er o f academ ic libraries using III and the p rep o n d eran ce o f large public libraries using CARL. Sixteen libraries are participating in the initial phase o f the project (see sidebar). Both the policy developm ent and tech n o ­ logical challenges are significant. In term s of policy, a single set o f circulation rules h ad to b e d ev elo p ed for inter-institutional patron lending. T hese policies h ad to b e acceptable Libraries participating in Prospector's initial phase Public academic • Auraria Library (III site)— serves Uni­ versity of Colorado at Denver, Metro­ politan State College o f Denver and Community College o f Denver • Colorado School of Mines (CARL site) • C olorado State University (III site) • Fort Lewis College (III site) • U niversity o f C o lo ra d o — B o ulder, C o lo ra d o Springs, H ea lth Science Center, Law Library (all III sites) • University o f N orthern C olorado (III site) • University o f W yom ing (CARL site) Private academic • C olorado College (III site) • Regis University (CARL site) • University o f D enver— main cam pus an d Law Library (b o th III sites) Public • D enver Public Library (CARL site) • Jefferson County Library (III site) to b o th public an d academ ic libraries with policies driven by very different institutional missions. For exam ple, loans ranged from an unlim ited n um ber o f items for o n e m onth to six items for tw o w eeks. Fines ranged from $0 to $1 p e r day am ong the participating li­ braries. The principal technological challenges will be developing software that will inter­ face th e CARL and III systems an d in provid­ ing fast, stable netw ork connectivity. O nce funding w as secured, contract n e­ gotiations w ith III w ere initiated to secure the necessary hardw are and software. At the same time, tw o task forces, D ocum ent D elivery/ Circulation an d Cataloging/Reference, w ere form ed during the fall o f 1997. By Ju n e 1998, they h ad dev elo p ed poli­ cies an d specifications that have received p re­ liminary approval from the Prospector Steer­ ing Committee, com prised o f the directors o f all th e participating libraries. The D ocum ent D elivery/Circulation Task Force w as charged w ith developing com m on policies for loan periods, fines, blocking, holds, renew als, item check-out limits, and routing precedence. A key elem ent in devel­ oping th e circulation policies w as that local sites w o u ld retain their o w n policies an d that the com m on policies w o u ld apply only to materials bo rro w ed through Prospector. T he p ro p o sed check-out limit o f 40 items pro v ed to b e th e m ost difficult issue to re­ solve. The smaller libraries w ere concerned with the possibility o f their limited collections being depleted. Hopefully this concern will b e addressed by load leveling o f requests b e ­ tw een libraries an d the ability o f any library to control w h ich item s can o r ca n n o t b e loaned through the system. Some academ ic sites n o te d th at nonin stitu tio n al b o rro w er privileges w ere being increased almost to the level o f cam p u s users. For ex am p le, the Auraria Library’s noninstitutional patrons had a limit o f six items for tw o w eeks. If these sam e patrons w en t through the union cata­ log, they could b orrow u p to 40 items for three w eeks. In this case, as with a num ber o f o th e r policy issues, th e ex p erien ces of ORBIS an d Ohio-LINK w ere very useful in obtaining consensus. Frequently, the issues an d concerns raised during the policy developm ent phases o f the P rospector project w ere ones that pro v ed to b e groundless b ased o n the Ohio-LINK and 7 5 6 1 C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 1998 ORBIS experiences. The basic loan policies established were a three-w eek loan period, 40 item check-out limit, and 40 holds. No recalls are allowed unless an item is needed for an academic reserve room. Patrons will get two renewals for three weeks unless a hold is present on the item. The fine policies o f the “hom e” library will be applied to Pros­ pector transactions and fines collected will be retained by that “hom e” library. Lost book charges will also be collected by the “hom e” library, but will be reimbursed to the owning library on an annual basis. Inn-Reach (Ill’s Union Catalog System) cir­ culation software creates virtual or temporary records (patron and item) to manage the multi-site transactions. No full patron data­ base will be maintained centrally. The Cataloging/Reference Task Force was charged with determining display and over­ lay rules, fields to be indexed and displayed, and precedence for which master records will be used in the central catalog when multiple libraries ow n the same item. The catalog will be a com bined database o f the participating libraries, built and maintained in real-time, with participating sites contributing records automatically. It will be based on the “one master record” concept in conjunction with a separate holdings display for libraries ow n­ ing the same item. This display will provide users with circulation status, local call num­ bers, and shelving locations. Users can ac­ cess the union catalog directly or pass on a local search to it. The catalog will provide both Web and character-based (telnet) inter­ faces to support both technologically high end and low end users throughout the state. Records should have the most complete cataloging available, i.e., those with the high­ est encoding levels will take precedence. Records to be included are for any materials allowed to circulate, items such as reference or virtual items requiring user authentication which do not circulate but can be used on­ site, and items with unrestricted URL’s or IP addresses. A site visit was completed in September by an III INN-Reach specialist to review the union catalog circulation profiling and speci­ fications. For the existing III libraries this will be somewhat similar to the work done to implement their local systems. The more com­ plex tasks will be mapping local tables and rules to the central catalog structure, particu­ larly for the CARL sites. The union catalog o f the III libraries is expected to be available by early 1999 with document delivery betw een those sites fol­ lowing a little later in the year. The full union catalog, incorporating the holdings o f the CARL libraries, should be available later in 1999- Operation o f the system will be by the Alliance where the server is located. Alliance staff will provide network connectivity, de­ velop software to interface the III and CARL systems, and integrate the records from the CARL libraries into the III INN-Reach software. Administrative and grant fiscal management will be performed by the University o f North­ ern Colorado Libraries. The efficient and timely delivery o f mate­ rials is also a critical elem ent within a pa- tron-initiated borrowing union catalog. At present, five widely dispersed library cou ­ rier systems exist within the state to provide delivery o f interlibrary loan items and other miscellaneous materials. Initially, the current infrastructure will be used and monitored as to perform ance under what is anticipated to b e a major increase in activity level. Conclusion For Colorado, the Prospector project appears to be the beginning of a vision long held within the state: a system that will provide seamless access to many collections coupled with effi­ cient patron-initiated borrowing and delivery service to convenient locations. Despite the phenomenal growth in electronic resources, particularly full text data bases, provision of actual books and journal articles (or copies) remains a fundamental activity o f virtually all libraries. Prospector should significantly en­ hance and simplify that core activity in a cost- effective, user-friendly manner. The experience gained in this endeavor, which includes pub­ lic and academic libraries and two of the most common ILS systems in the United States, will also be beneficial to the profession as a whole. It should be o f particular interest to those li­ braries needing multiplatform and multitype library solutions to union catalog development. Notes More information on the current status of th e p ro je c t is a v ailab le at http://www. coalliance.org/prospector. ■ http://www C&RL N ew s ■ N o vem b er 1998 / 757